(Reuters) - Ridesharing company Uber suspended its operations in the U.S. state of Nevada late on Wednesday in a setback that it said would cost nearly 1,000 jobs.
Companies such as Uber allow passengers to summon cars using apps on their smartphones, rather than calling a taxi company, and have gained popularity in dozens of U.S. cities over the past few years.
But they face opposition from taxi companies and some officials who argue the upstarts do not face the same stringent regulations as do traditional cabs, and insurance companies want their drivers to carry more expensive insurance policies.
Uber's decision to temporarily suspend its service in Nevada came after a legal setback.
On Tuesday, a Washoe County District Court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the company from statewide operations, siding with Nevada over regulatory concerns in a case that was referred to the court by a split panel of the state's Supreme Court, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"It's unfortunate that Nevada is the first state in the nation to temporarily suspend Uber," spokeswoman Eva Behrend said in a statement, adding the shut-down would cost nearly 1,000 jobs.
"We remain committed to working with Nevada's leaders to create a permanent regulatory framework that affords Nevadans the flexibility and innovation offered by Uber," Behrend said.
Requests for comment were not immediately returned by Nevada's Attorney General's office.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Chicago; Editing by Pravin Char)
American tech CEOs love to complain that they can't find enough skilled workers, and they want the U.S. government to change its immigration policies to fix the problem. But it's a problem that doesn’t exist.
The real problem is not that there aren’t enough qualified workers to do tech jobs, but that tech companies simply don’t want to pay people enough money to do them, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Josh Eidelson pointed out on Monday, citing academic research.
Specifically, Eidelson quoted Rutgers professor of public policy Hal Salzman saying that tech companies looking for new hires “may not be able to find them at the price they want. But I’m not sure that qualifies as a shortage, any more than my not being able to find a half-priced TV.”
Salzman’s research found that 50 percent of computer-science college students don’t enter the tech industry after graduation. Thirty-two percent of the students Salzman surveyed said there weren't enough tech jobs available -- countering any idea of a worker shortage. Fifty-three percent of students said they “found better job opportunities outside of IT occupations." That suggests the relative pay of tech is the real problem.
Tech companies do pay well compared to the median U.S. income of $53,000. A few years ago, Business Insider reported that starting median salaries at big companies ranged from $55,000 to $87,000. But these companies are not competing to employ the median U.S. worker; by their own admission, they want highly skilled workers. Those 53 percent of tech grads who found better offers elsewhere suggest that tech companies pay less than some companies they are competing against for talent.
Add to this Salzman's finding that inflation-adjusted tech pay hasn't risen since 1999, and you don't get a picture of an industry that is, overall, offering best-in-class pay.
Even if there were in fact a shortage of tech workers, tech CEOs could fix it by simply paying workers more. It’s the same solution The New York Times’ Neil Irwin called for when the trucking industry bemoaned a lack of truckers: Pay them more, and they will come.
Instead of taking a free-market approach to attracting workers -– raising pay to increase the supply of workers -– the tech industry has focused on lobbying politicians to increase the number of temporary H1-B visas for high-skilled workers, to let a greater number of workers enter the country. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg created an entire organization, called FWD, to push for immigration reform that included more H1-B visas.
It's no accident that these H1-B workers are cheaper. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 80 percent of H1-B visa workers make less than Americans in similar jobs.
In arguing to bring in more of these workers, tech CEOs claim their industry is unique. Tech workers are nothing like truckers, they would say. Tech jobs are specialized and talent-based, with top performers that are vastly more productive than other employees.
But the same can be said of many white-collar occupations. Technology companies are not unicorns. Other industries deal with the same issues tech companies are constantly decrying, including global competition for talent and a sub-standard U.S. education system, and seem to do just fine.
For instance, look at finance. Wages are high enough that there are plenty of people willing to do complicated, skilled work for more than 80 hours a week.
As a result, no one ever talks about a banker shortage. Quite the opposite: There are semi-regular columns imploring young and impressionable college graduates to ignore the allure of high pay in the financial sector -- and instead try working in tech, maybe. And some of those grads do. But you will never hear a bank or hedge fund complain that they just can’t hire enough people.
FWD, the group founded by Zuckerberg, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did representatives from Apple, Google and Facebook.
NEW YORK (AP) — Thanksgiving could be the best day to shop all year.
An analysis of sales data and store circulars by two research firms contradicts conventional wisdom that Black Friday is when shoppers can get the most and biggest sales of the year.
Turns out, shoppers will find more discounted items in stores that are open on Thanksgiving. For example, there are a total of 86 laptops and tablets deeply discounted as door buster deals at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others on the holiday compared with just nine on Black Friday, according to an analysis of promotions for The Associated Press by researcher MarketTrack.
And on the Web, discounts will be deeper on the holiday. Online prices on Thanksgiving are expected to be about 24 percent cheaper compared with 23 percent on Black Friday and 20 percent on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe, which tracks data on 4,500 retail web sites.
The data is the latest proof that retailers are slowly redefining the Black Friday tradition. It's been the biggest shopping day of the year for years, mostly because it's traditionally when retailers pull out their best sales events. But in the last few years, retailers like the Gap, Target and Toys R Us have started opening their stores and offering holiday discounts on Thanksgiving to better compete with online rivals.
"I was surprised, but it really shifted one day," said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at Adobe, which is based in San Jose, California.
Shoppers already are noticing the deals on Thanksgiving. Corey Grassell, 34, of Appleton, Wisconsin, said he plans to shop for deals on Thanksgiving and bypass Black Friday. That's after he grabbed bargains last year on the holiday, including a washer-dryer combination at Sears for about $800, a 50 percent discount.
"I feel guilty for going out on Thanksgiving, but the deals are so much more attractive to me than on Black Friday," he says.
But some industry watchers fear others won't shop on Thanksgiving, choosing to keep the day sacred. Those who wait instead to shop on Black Friday could wind up being disappointed with the leftover deals, they say. In fact, according to Deloitte Research's recent survey of shoppers, about two-thirds say they're not motivated to go out to stores Thanksgiving because it's important to be with family and friends.
"Shoppers could be disappointed and find that the hot items on their list are not in stock on Black Friday because of the early push by retailers," says Traci Gregorski, MarketTrack's vice president of marketing.
She says she's conducting a survey of shoppers after the holiday shopping weekend to see how retailers fared. "We want to get shoppers' perception of these deals," she says.
Most big retailers acknowledge that they're starting to offer deals on Thanksgiving that previously were reserved for Black Friday.
Jeff Haydock, a spokesman at Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, said the best deals become available Thanksgiving when its doors open at 5 p.m. For example, one of Best Buy's Thanksgiving specials is a $899 55-inch LED Smart TV, the lowest price it has ever offered on a Samsung ultra-high definition TV of this size. That will be available on Friday —if supplies last.
"Naturally, more of the deals are being pulled into Thursday because our stores are open," says Haydock.
Brian Hanover, a spokesman at Sears, which is opening at 6 p.m. Thursday, also says Thanksgiving specials spill into Black Friday. But the quantities for the 1,000 door busters are limited. They include Nordic Track treadmills for $699.99, or an $800 discount, and a 36 percent savings on a Whirlpool laundry machine, regularly priced at $549.99.
"It probably behooves the customer to shop earlier on Thanksgiving," he says.
For its part, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, says it's spreading out discounts online and in the store. But Gregorski, of MarketTrack's says its "evident" in Wal-Mart's circular that "the best deals are on Thanksgiving."
To be sure, for its two sales events on Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart devotes 36 pages of its circular to discounted TVs, computers and other items. On Black Friday? Wal-Mart has four pages of deals.
_______________
Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at — https://twitter.com/adinnocenzio
That is the depressing conclusion -- or, if you're already part of the social elite, the great news -- of a new study by economists Gregory Clark of the University of California, Davis, and Neil Cummins of the London School of Economics. The hope that we can claw our way up from our low station to someplace fancier is a delusion for most of us, according to this study. We inherit social status from our parents just as much as, if not more than, our physical traits.
And this social status often persists across many, many generations. The title of the study -- "Surnames and Social Mobility in England, 1170–2012" -- gives you some idea of just how many generations we're talking about here: 28 generations of 30 years each. The study looked at centuries of data on the social statuses of English families. It found that many of the families who were socially elite landowners in 1170 -- your Montgomerys, Nevilles, and Percys -- were still socially elite in 2012.
"Strong forces of familial culture, social connections, and genetics must connect the generations," the authors wrote. "There really are quasi-physical 'Laws of Inheritance.'"
The study used attendance at Oxford and Cambridge Universities ("Oxbridge") as a proxy for high social status; typically only elite students go to those schools. Across generations, the "correlation coefficient" -- a number that shows the strength of the correlation between two things, with a 0 meaning not correlated at all and 1 meaning perfect positive correlation -- was between 0.7 and 0.9 for generations of the same family going to Oxbridge. In comparison, the correlation coefficient for height between generations is just 0.64, according to one study cited by the researchers.
Hang on, you might be saying, isn't England notorious for low social mobility? Isn't it the land of Downton Abbey-style snooty inherited wealth? Sure. But guess what? The United States is really not much better. A 2013 study by Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa found that the U.K. and U.S. were two of the least socially mobile countries in the developed world. Here's a chart that puts this in perspective:
Note that, according to Corak's study, low levels of social mobility -- meaning it's hard to move from one social level to a higher one -- are also associated with high levels of income inequality.
This is the kind of world that French economist Thomas Piketty warns could become increasingly common -- one in which inherited wealth just keeps growing while incomes stagnate. It's the sort of the world we're living in today, come to think of it.
Most worryingly, the Clark-Cummins study found that social mobility hasn't really improved significantly in recent decades, despite social programs aimed at boosting it, such as higher tax rates on wealth and programs to help lower-class students get into Oxbridge.
Maybe we just haven't given such programs enough time to work, though. And given the many economic risks created by widening inequality, we shouldn't stop trying to boost social mobility.
In the past few years, U.S. retailers have stretched "Black Friday," which once meant the day after Thanksgiving, across days and even weeks of bargains. That trend could continue if companies -- struggling to grow sales in an anemic economy -- find the new strategy pays off.
The change could give hope to shoppers tired of rising at the crack of dawn, or leaving their Thanksgiving table, to battle other shoppers for cheap DVD players. It could also make life a little easier for Americans who rely on Black Friday sales to take care of their holiday shopping.
For now, many of the best deals are still to be found in stores on Black Friday and, increasingly, on Thanksgiving Day. Target, for example, is opening stores at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. But it also offered some Black Friday deals on Nov. 10, nearly three weeks before the traditional Black Friday, with more sales to come in the days before Thanksgiving.
The extended deals are part of a larger strategy to offer a Black Friday that's convenient for shoppers, according to Jenna Reck, a Target spokeswoman.
"Black Friday at Target this year is about giving our guests access to top Black Friday deals no matter how, where or when they want to shop," Reck wrote in an email.
Online juggernaut Amazon is starting its Black Friday sale on Nov. 21, six days before Thanksgiving and the earliest it has ever offered Black Friday deals, said Julie Law, an Amazon spokeswoman.
The company made the shift after an uptick in traffic last year on the Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving, Law said. "Those days that we see customers shopping more, we're going to make sure that we've got great deals on those days," she said.
Walmart, the nation's biggest retailer, has made the shift to a longer Black Friday period most explicitly. It touts what it calls the “New Black Friday” -- five days of deals. It's also hosting its second annual “Pre-Black Friday Event,” starting Friday, Nov. 21 at 8 a.m., giving shoppers the chance to buy TVs, Lego sets, KitchenAid Stand Mixers and other items at prices the company claims match or beat competitors’ lowest offers. This year's Pre-Black Friday sale has twice the number of items offered last year, according to the company.
Duncan Mac Naughton, the chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S., told reporters at a New Jersey Walmart on Tuesday that the retailer was "building the shoulders" of Black Friday.
“If you look at the customer today, they’re very dynamic, they want to shop at different times,” he said.
“You could choose to go out on Thanksgiving and stand on line and be cold," he said, or customers could start their shopping as early as this Friday with the Pre-Black Friday Event.
Online prices start dropping in mid-November and are typically best on Thanksgiving Day, according to the chart below from Adobe. Some stores are also offering "Black Friday" sales starting several days before Thanksgiving:
This shift is partly a response to changing shopping habits. People keep getting more comfortable with online buying, and the idea of trundling out to stores during retailer-mandated times for specific discounts keeps getting less appealing.
Just 28 percent of Americans say they plan to set foot inside a store on Black Friday, according to a recent survey from Bankrate.com, a personal finance site.
Offering deals earlier and more often is also a way for retailers to better get their hands on the limited disposable income of shoppers whose incomes have stagnated in recent years.
“They’re targeting consumers on the lower end who once their budget is gone, it’s gone,” said Ken Perkins, the founder of Retail Metrics, a retail analytics firm. “They’re really trying to pull sales in as early as possible.”
When Black Friday first started to become popular decades ago, retailers offered “really incredible, earth-shaking” deals on that day, according to Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies at Columbia Business School who is the former CEO of Sears Canada. Now, shoppers may actually get better deals the closer it gets to Christmas, as retailers try to unload their excess inventory before the holiday, Cohen told The Huffington Post.
Still, there’s a strong perception that any sale involving the term “Black Friday” offers the best discount, thanks to retailer and media hype. “This is sort of a mass psychosis,” Cohen said. “This whole frenzy is completely unwarranted.”
Shoppers in a New York City Macy's during the week before Christmas in 1942.
The slow stretching of Black Friday across several days may be a sign of calmer times to come. Retailers are leaning less on extreme discounts to draw people into stores, Carol Spieckerman, the CEO of newmarketbuilders, a retail strategy firm, told HuffPost. Instead, a broader period of discounts will likely create a more relaxing environment that encourages shoppers to spend their time browsing in one store instead of hopping between harried shops for discounts.
“If you look at the way most major retailers are staging out their deals, this year marks a really major departure from that frenzied prescribed herding mentality and into a more reasonable, trusting environment,” Spieckerman said.
Elizabeth Warren's brainchild watchdog agency is cracking down for the first time on a used car dealer that also acted as an auto lender for allegedly harassing customers who were late on their payments.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, conceived by Sen. Warren (D. Mass.) during the financial crisis, fined Phoenix-based DriveTime Automotive Group, Inc., the country's largest "buy here, pay here" lender, $8 million on Wednesday. As part of a settlement agreement, DriveTime and its finance company, DT Acceptance Corporation, said they would change debt collection practices.
"Buy here, pay here" auto companies sell used cars, but consumer advocates say they operate more like subprime lenders. The companies offer low-income customers with poor credit ratings auto loans with interest rates that can top 30 percent, according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times investigation.
DriveTime’s average customer has an annual income of between $37,000 and $50,000, a FICO credit score between 461 and 554 and paid an average of 19 percent in interest on their loan, according to the CFPB. (According to FICO, a credit score of 660 or higher is typically considered "good.")
People who buy cars at these types of dealerships usually return to the lot to make payments, often in cash -- hence the term “buy here, pay here.” The companies also expect some of these buyers to fall behind on their payments, consumer attorneys say, which can benefit the dealer.
“When a customer defaults, the company can repossess the car and resell it again, often numerous times,” said John Van Alst, the director of the National Consumer Law Center’s “Working Cars For Working Families” project, which advocates for policy reform and transparency in used car and car finance markets.
DriveTime would repeatedly call customers who fell behind for payments, according to the CFPB settlement. Where the company fell afoul of the law, CFPB alleged, is when it called people at work, risking them getting fired. One DriveTime customer was called 30 times at work by the company’s collectors, even after the customer had asked them to stop, according to court documents. The CFPB charged that DriveTime management actually encouraged this tactic.
“Consumers who purchase a car at a buy-here, pay-here dealer deserve to be treated fairly,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “DriveTime harassed and harmed countless consumers, many of whom were economically vulnerable.”
“DriveTime strives to comply with all applicable laws and provide exemplary service to our customers,” said company general counsel and Executive Vice President Jon Ehlinger in a prepared statement. “DriveTime had taken and has continued to take steps to enhance its customer experience, and loan servicing activities, including the handling of do not call requests.”
According to the settlement, DriveTime employes 290 collectors in order to secure its owed payments.
The DriveTime agreement marks the CFPB's first action against a “buy here, pay here” company, and signals that the growing federal agency -- newly minted in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law -- is watching the industry, which has ballooned in size in recent years.
The number of cars sold by “buy here, pay here” lots in the U.S. grew from 1.3 million in 2001 to 2.4 million in 2010, according to the 2011 Los Angeles Times investigation. More recent data is hard to come by. “BHPH [buy here, pay here] is a fractured industry with few large or publicly traded participants, making it difficult to estimate transaction volume,” says the website of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
“Buy here, pay here” dealers represent around 10 percent of the overall auto finance market, said Chris Kuklas of the Center For Responsible Lending, research group that fights predatory lending practices. The overall auto finance market is worth $940.9 billion, according to the Federal Reserve.
At DriveTime, where at any given moment about 45 percent of customers were delinquent on their payments, calling people at work wasn’t the only law the company broke, regulators charged.
The settlement also alleges that the company inaccurately reported its customers to credit bureaus, even when DriveTime had “reasonable cause to believe” the information it was reporting was wrong. Regulators charged that when DriveTime repossessed its customers’ cars, it told the three biggest credit bureaus in the country that the repossessions had happened more recently than they actually had.
Having a car repossession listed on your credit report dings your credit score, and can make it more difficult to find a job or be approved for a credit card or mortgage.
DriveTime took steps to improve the way it reported customers to credit bureaus both before and during the CFPB investigation, Ehlinger said. The company is “look[ing] forward” to “improving its customer service and compliance practices” in coming years, he added.
Federal authorities have recently been cracking down on the way lenders sometimes unfairly harm consumers’ credit reports. Over the summer, the CFPB fined an auto lender in Texas $2.75 million for allegedly providing inaccurate information about borrowers to credit agencies for years.
“We’re focusing on accuracy with credit reporting because credit ratings have such an impact on people’s financial well-being,” CFPB spokesman Sam Gilford told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.
Kuklas said that "buy here, pay here" companies fall under the CFPB’s authority because they are more like debt collectors than car dealers. The agency has recently tried to clamp down on the tactics debt collectors use to get people to make payments on delinquent bills.
In August, the CFPB took action against a Georgia debt collection firm that it alleged operated like a “factory” in suing hundreds of thousands of people for old debts, while spending less than a minute reviewing each lawsuit for accuracy.
One out of every three Americans has an unpaid bill “in collections,” according to a July study by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. Debts in collections can harm your credit score and even lead to your savings and wages getting seized.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that the number of "buy here, pay here" lots grew from 1.3 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2009. In reality, the number of cars sold by "buy here, pay here" lots grew from 1.3 million in 2001 to 2.4 million in 2010, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.
This article was reported by DealNews, a site that scours the web for the best retail deals.
Now that the Black Friday ads are leaking at a steady pace, we're finally getting a clear picture of the 2014 Black Friday landscape. We've examined the advertised deals from stores like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, and we're ready to pick some early winners. Keep in mind though that new ads will continue to trickle in, but in the meantime, here's our roundup of the top Black Friday ads so far.
The Best Black Friday Ads So Far
Panasonic 50" 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $199.99 at Best Buy
If you want to make a statement, offering a brand-name HDTV as your show-stealing doorbuster is a heck of a way to do it. This Panasonic 50" set comes in at an astonishing $99 below our Black Friday prediction for the 46" to 47" class TVs. In fact, this deal will be tied as the best price we've seen for any 50" HDTV by about $100 — including refurbs. (We've only seen a 50" TV drop this low once before, on Thanksgiving last year.) Best of all, this price outshines the leaked Black Friday prices for every other TV in this size range, including Target's incredible $235 48" set. The only drawback to this doorbuster is that you'll have to go to the store to grab it.
Asus Intel Laptop for $100 at Staples
We admit, this ad is as vague as you can get, but even without specifics it's safe to assume this laptop is housing a low-cost Intel Atom or Celeron processor. Nevertheless, as far as budget systems are concerned, this deal is poised to blow all other deals out of the water. Not only does it beat our laptop prediction for budget machines by $78, but when this deal comes to fruition, it will set a new benchmark for cheap laptops — and become the cheapest laptop in DealNews history.
Element 40" 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $119 at Target
Just when we thought 40" to 42" TV deals had plateaued, Target went and slashed the price of this 40" Element to $119. Not only does that destroy our Black Friday TV prediction for this size category by $59, but it's just $9 away from tying last year's best Black Friday price for a 32" TV. Without a doubt, this is the star of Target's Black Friday ad and easily snags a spot in our Top 10.
Vizio 65" 1080p Smart LED LCD HDTV for $648 at Walmart
Even if you don't consider Vizio to be a brand-name manufacturer, this 65" Smart TV doorbuster is spectacular. Starting at 6 pm local time, in-store shoppers can grab this set for $648, which is a whopping $102 less than the best price we've ever seen for any 65" HDTV, even refurbs. Better yet, this deal easily blows Best Buy's $800 LG TV out of the water.
Samsung 55" 4K 2160p Smart LED LCD Ultra HDTV for $899.99 at Best Buy
Remember when we said you shouldn't buy a name-brand smart TV on Black Friday? Here's the glaring exception to that rule. You don't even have to brave the in-store crowds to score this incredible Samsung 55" 4K Smart TV deal; according to the ad, this doorbuster will be available online. At $900, this set beats our August mention of a refurb, becoming the cheapest Samsung 55" 4K TV we've seen by $315.
Apple MacBook Air Haswell Core i5 11.6" Laptop for $779.99 at Best Buy
If you're shopping for a current-gen MacBook Air on Black Friday, this is definitely the deal to beat. That $780 price point not only shatters our Black Friday prediction by $19, but it blows past our previous all-time low by $70. Best of all, it knocks a delightful $120 off Apple's price.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7" 8GB Android Tablet with $20 in SYWR points for $150 at Kmart
This is an incredible deal, bar none. First off, Kmart's ad price beats the best deal we've ever seen for this tablet by $6. Plus, the Shop Your Way Rewards credit brings this popular 7" slate to $20 below our Black Friday prediction for a small, mainstream Android tablet. Coincidentally, the credit also helps Kmart beat Sam's Club's leaked Black Friday price for this tablet.
Amazon Fire HD 6 6" 8GB WiFi Tablet with a $20 Meijer Custom Coupon for $79 at Meijer
Here's an ad that blows our Black Friday tablet predictions right out of the water. Against all odds, here's the Fire HD 6 (the bottom-tier tablet in Amazon's recently refreshed lineup), marked down by $20 with an extra $20 credit tacked on for good measure. Assuming you'll use the credit, that'll be 40% off and the very first discount we've seen on this tablet. Furthermore, Meijer's leaked price beats Kmart's by $11 once all credits are taken into account.
Apple iPhone 6 16GB Smartphone for $99 at Sam's Club
Although iPhone 6 deals have been mediocre since Apple's launch, this deal may be the one to open the floodgates. Outside of an early Walmart preorder, the 16GB iPhone 6 has not dropped below $179. This Sam's Club deal cuts the list price by 50% to just $99 (with a 2-year contract renewal), which is right on par with our iPhone prediction. Better yet, this price beats Target's iPhone 6 ad by $51. All of the Sam's Club Black Friday iPhone deals go live on November 15, so proceed with caution because other retailers may swoop in and undercut them.
Samsung Galaxy S5 16GB Android Phone for 1 cent at Target
We haven't seen a decent discount on a subsidized Samsung Galaxy S5 since August, and that one cost $100. Flash forward to Black Friday, when Target will drop this in-demand Android to just one penny (with the activation of a 2-year contract). Unless we start seeing for-profit deals, this is as good as smartphone ads get — it even beats Sam's Club's deal by about a buck.
Xbox One Halo: The Master Chief Collection Bundle with a $30 Walmart Gift Card for $329
We've seen quite a few noteworthy Xbox One bundle ads, but this one is our top pick. Although Target is offering the Assassin's Creed Unity version of this bundle paired with a $50 gift card, shoppers might think twice about dropping so much cash on a game that one critic called "my least favorite major Assassin's Creed since the 2007 original." On the other hand, this 6 pm doorbuster comes with four Halo games (as opposed to the other bundle's two), access to a beta, and more. The $30 gift card can even be used to further bulk up your Xbox One collection; Walmart will also have select Xbox One titles on sale from $20 during Black Friday.
However, if you are interested in the Target bundle, know that the heftier gift card means it's effectively $70 below our Black Friday prediction for a Kinect-less Xbox One.
Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD On-Ear Headphones for $79.99 at Best Buy
Sorry, Target: Best Buy just became the place to buy a pair of Beats cans on Black Friday. Even we're floored by this $80 doorbuster; that ties the all-time best price we've seen for these headphones refurbished.
Apple iPad Air 2 16GB Tablet with $140 Gift Card for $499 at Target
Target is currently the king of iPad Air 2 deals bundling a very generous $140 Target gift card with the purchase of the 16GB model. That's effectively $140 off the tablet's retail price and easily trumps last Black Friday's $429 iPad Air low. If you don't want to deal with gift cards or if you just want to pay the least amount possible, Best Buy gets runner up for shaving $100 off the full cost of the iPad Air 2.
Dyson DC33 Multi-Floor Bagless Upright Vacuum for $199 at Walmart
Somewhere, a Dyson fan just fainted. We predicted that new Dysons would start at around $250, and this 6 pm doorbuster demolishes that price by $51. Furthermore, this price is $40 below our previous all-time low for a new unit.
Predator Generators 8,750W 13HP Gas Generator for $550 at Harbor Freight Tools
Power outages are probably the last thing on your mind this month, but emergency preparedness is always a good thing and this generator is $225 under the cheapest 8,000-watt generator we've seen all year. Even better, it also manages to undercut every 5,000-watt generator we've posted this year. While most experts recommend a 4,000-watt unit, at $550 you can afford to double the power. A great buy for home owners who've yet to purchase a generator.
4-Burner Gas Grill with Side Burner for $99 at Walmart
Although the summer months typically see better grill sales than Black Friday, this gas grill is a steal. At $99, it'll be tied with a May deal as the cheapest 4-burner gas grill we've seen in the past two years. Better still, this 6 pm doorbuster beats the next cheapest Black Friday gas grill by $61.
Every hour, more ads are trickling in, but the 2014 landscape is already packed with incredible offers. We hope we'll see more ads that are just as good as Staples' $100 laptop and Target's $119 TV in the coming days, but the deals above will certainly be hard to beat.
Excited for Black Friday deals? Consider subscribing to the DealNews Select Newsletter to get a daily recap of all our deals; you never know when a Black Friday price will be released! You can also download the DealNews apps, check out the latest Black Friday ads, or read more buying advice.
San Francisco will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the course of three years after residents voted in the pay hike Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The city’s minimum wage will increase to $12.25 per hour in May 2015 and to $13 per hour in July 2016. From there, the wage will go up by one dollar every year until July 2018 when it lands at $15 per hour, bringing the annual pay for a minimum-wage employee working full time to $31,000.
When announcing the measure in June after convening with activists, business representatives and city leaders, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (D) said the city's current $10.74 minimum wage "doesn't cut it."
The wage hike is a major step in addressing the city’s extreme economic inequality, triggered in part by the growth of Silicon Valley technology companies and the influx of their high-paid employees pricing out lower-income residents. One study this past summer found that the city’s income disparity was comparable to that of developing countries in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa.
San Francisco is already the city with the highest minimum wage, and passage of the wage increase will help it keep that placement. In the same month the city’s ballot measure was introduced, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance gradually raising that city's minimum wage to $15, set to start taking effect in April 2015.
live blog
Oldest
Newest
Share +
11/05/2014 8:27 AM ESTChristie: GOP Wins Show Focus On Leadership
The AP reported Wednesday:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Republican victories in governor's races across the country show voters want leaders who will "get things done," rather that fighting over ideology.
Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association and a possible 2016 candidate for president, said he was gratified by GOP wins in Democratic-leaning states such as Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois, as well as victories in key swing states like Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Christie said voters "elect and re-elect governors to get things done."
Christie, who campaigned for GOP candidates across the country, said the winners deserve the credit, not him. He said elections are "always about the candidate."
Christie spoke Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, ABC's "Good Morning America" and Fox News Channel.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 7:46 AM ESTPresident Obama To Address Midterm Results In Afternoon Press Conference
President Barack Obama will speak to the press Wednesday afternoon to address his party's resounding loss in the 2014 midterm elections, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest. He is expected to strike a tone of compromise and accountability following a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate and many of the nation's gubernatorial offices.
Obama tried reached out to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is widely expected to be the next senate majority leader and who also won re-election Tuesday night, and left a message, CNN reported.
The president's press conference will take place at 2:50 p.m. Eastern time from the East Room of the White House.
Igor Bobic
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 6:57 AM ESTIndictment, Dog Killing, Infidelity Overcome By GOP Candidates
How bad was it for Democrats? Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican facing a 20-count indictment won in New York and another known for outbursts of rage and killing a beagle, Mike Bost, won a seat in President Barack Obama's home state of Illinois that had been Democratic for 70 years.
Down in Tennessee, Rep. Scott DesJarlais' past infidelities and pushing of abortion on a mistress continued to not matter to voters, who handed him a landslide victory.
There were a couple of bright spots for Democrats, or at least the more moderate crowd. Florida Rep. Steve Southerland lost to Democrat Gwen Graham after holding an all-male fundraiser and joking about Graham in lingerie. And in Louisiana, GOP Rep. Vance McAllister, dubbed the "Kissing Congressman" after he was caught on tape smooching a staffer, finished far back in the field in his contest.
-- Michael McAuliff
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 5:24 AM ESTExpect A Delay In Results
AP not calling these races until the number of outstanding votes can be verified: Va. gov.; Conn. gov.; Colo. gov.; Alaska gov, Senate.
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 5:07 AM ESTAlaska Becomes 4th State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana
In yet another major pushback against the war on drugs, Alaska legalized recreational marijuana on Tuesday, joining Oregon and Washington, D.C. -- both of which legalized cannabis only hours before. Alaska becomes the fourth state in the U.S. to legalize retail marijuana, along with Oregon, Colorado and Washington state.
Voters approved Measure 2, which legalizes the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana. Adults, age 21 and older, may possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants (with no more than three being mature) for personal use. The measure also legalizes the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana paraphernalia, such as devices used for smoking or storing the plant.
“The folks trying to keep marijuana illegal are relying on the same scare tactics today that they have relied on for decades, but voters just aren’t falling for it anymore," Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement early Wednesday morning. "The results are particularly encouraging since voter turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums."
People are STILL voting on Chicago's north side because of election judge problems @cbschicago #Election2014
— Elizabeth Godvik (@GodvikNewzGirl) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 3:40 AM ESTSarah Palin To GOP: You Didn't Build This
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took to Facebook last night to issue a hearty congratulations -- and warning -- to her GOP brethren:
Thank you, wise voters! Tonight is a big victory for We the People! Credit is due to the victorious candidates. Your message to President Obama is undeniably received, though he'll try to ignore it.
...
The Democrats got mauled today, deservedly so. To prohibit that from happening to the GOP in 2016, it must learn the lesson from the last time Republicans held the Senate majority. This time they must not retreat, and it's our responsibility to hold them accountable. Will they fight for reform that aligns with the limited government planks of the Republican platform, or will they return to the big government cronyism and status quo favored by the permanent political class? Will they drain the swamp or decide the D.C. cesspool is really just a jacuzzi they can't wait to jump on into and shake us off?
If GOP leadership returns to business as usual, then this majority will be short lived, for We the People say, “once bitten, twice shy.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ Alaskans have voted to raise the minimum wage.
— Becky Bohrer (@beckybohrerap) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:39 AM ESTAlaska Rep. Don Young Projected To Win 22nd Term
The Associated Press is projecting that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) will win re-election as Alaska's only member of Congress.
--Sam Levine
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:36 AM ESTVoter Turnout In The U.S. Is Always Awful.. And This Year Was No DifferentShare this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:36 AM ESTDCCC Chair Tries To Find A Silver Lining
.@DCCC Chair @RepSteveIsrael: "In short, it could have been worse"
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:21 AM ESTMaine's Fourth-Largest City Legalizes Marijuana Possession
Voters in South Portland, Maine, the state's fourth-largest city, approved a measure that removes all legal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults.
Public consumption and display remain illegal. Maine's largest city, Portland, legalized recreational marijuana last year.
A similar measure in Lewiston, the second-largest Maine city, failed Tuesday night.
-- Matt Ferner
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:17 AM ESTCruz Says He Won't Challenge McConnell
Ted Cruz tells CBS that "under no circumstances" would he challenge McConnell for leader. So there's that.
— Susan Davis (@DaviSusan) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:15 AM ESTDemocrats Are Not Sugarcoating Tuesday's Election Results
Business Insider's Hunter Walker and Brett Logiurato report:
Democrats knew they were in trouble on election night Tuesday when a Virginia Senate seat that was expected to be a blowout victory began to come in much closer than expected.
"When you're cheering for an eke-out win in Virginia, not going to be a good night," one Democratic strategist told Business Insider.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:09 AM ESTHope And Change? Not This Time
Wednesday's front page, NY Daily News: pic.twitter.com/2mChPO9FuU
— Joel Siegel (@joelmsiegel) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 2:08 AM ESTPat Quinn Refuses To Concede Illinois Governor's Race As Rauner Declares Victory
CHICAGO -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) addressed supporters late Tuesday night saying he was not ready to concede the election to challenger Bruce Rauner, despite the fact that the Associated Press and others have called the race for the Republican political newcomer.
“There are a lot of votes still to be counted,” Quinn told supporters. “I don’t believe in throwing in the towel when there are that many votes still to be counted.”
As of late Tuesday night, the splash page for the Quinn For Illinois campaign website said, "We're still waiting for the final results to come in. Thanks for your support."
Meanwhile, Rauner declared victory in a speech late Tuesday, promising a "new direction" for Illinois.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting by midnight Tuesday, only Quinn's Chicago base of Cook County tipped in his favor; Rauner won the influential "collar counties" around Chicago and easily carried downstate counties as well.
Cook County, which encompasses Chicago, was the only county that hadn't reported all its results at the time of Quinn's announcement. Election issues rippled throughout Chicago since the polls opened at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Election officials alleged "dirty tricks" were afoot after "malicious" robocalls were sent to election judges as early as Friday. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen told the Sun-Times that the calls -- which reportedly gave election judges false information about voting requirements and eligibility -- prompted more than 2,000 no-shows on Election Day.
"You're interfering with the orderly conduct of a federal election in our opinion," Allen said.
Fire crews had to break down the door of one polling place located inside a restaurant after the owners failed to show up and open. The polling station was just one of several that stayed open beyond the regular poll closing to accommodate the late start.
Additionally, a new policy that allowed voters to simultaneously register and vote at a polling place contributed to the hundreds of voters still waiting in line when the polls closed at 7 p.m.
-- Kim Bellware
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:58 AM ESTDemocratic Gubernatorial Candidates Had A Very, Very Bad Night
HuffPost's Samantha Lachman reports:
Republicans had been predicted to take control of the Senate Tuesday evening, but Democrats hoped to do better in gubernatorial races. That hope was more than disappointed, as even Democrats who had been expected to easily win in Democratic-leaning states were defeated.
In deep-blue Maryland, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown conceded to Republican Larry Hogan. In Massachusetts, Attorney General Martha Coakley suffered a crushing loss. And in Maine, deeply unpopular Republican Gov. Paul LePage beat back a challenge from Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud. In all three of those states,
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, didn't even get the requisite 50 percent of the vote needed to win outright in his state.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:35 AM ESTMia Love Projected Winner In Utah Congressional Race
Mia Love wins Utah House race, @AP projects http://t.co/x8zvDVQksC #election2014
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:29 AM ESTIn Bed At A Reasonable Hour: Mitch McConnell's Election Night Extravaganza
HuffPost's Eliot Nelson reports:
When the crowd at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's election party first learned their candidate had won a sixth term to the U.S. Senate, the reaction was somewhat less than euphoric. A few yelps of excitement erupted here and there, but it seemed as if no one wanted to stand out by making a fuss. It took a few minutes, but the cheers eventually coalesced into something resembling a roar.
It was a decidedly understated bunch. Men in blazers with prep school haircuts had been mingling with demure women sporting bleach-blond helmet hairdos. Many of their children -- themselves seemingly straight out of a Crewcuts catalog -- noshed on complimentary bags of popcorn.
There were flashes of eclecticism, like the two young men toting a sign reading "COME AT ME BRO" featuring a picture of McConnell holding out his arms. Otherwise, the room felt less like a raucous, eardrum-shattering political celebration and more like history's rowdiest Presbyterian church mixer.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:27 AM ESTMartha Coakley Not Ready To Concede In Massachusetts
.@marthacoakley campaign says NO CONCESSION TONIGHT
— Sarah Birnbaum (@sbirn) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:17 AM ESTRand Paul Taunts Hillary Clinton After GOP Victory
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wasted no time using the GOP’s new majority in the Senate in the face of potential 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton.
Paul posted an entire Facebook album of photos of Clinton campaigning with candidates who lost on Tuesday. Each photo was tagged #HillarysLosers.
On Twitter, Paul continued to attack Clinton, saying that the GOP’s victory on election day was a repudiation of her and President Barack Obama.
Today voters sent a message to Pres. Obama & Hillary Clinton, rejecting their policies & often, their candidates. pic.twitter.com/uQ07JIkwU9
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 5, 2014
You didnt think it could get worse than your book tour? It did. Courtesy of the U.S. voters: https://t.co/kGAZVFq7ze pic.twitter.com/zABFStFM67
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 5, 2014
-- Sam Levine
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:16 AM ESTNew Jersey Passes Major Bail Reform
Voters approved Public Question No. 1, a bail reform measure that will reduce the pretrial incarceration of those accused of low-level drug violations. Poorer defendants who can't afford bail, but who are not considered a threat to the community, will now be eligible to be freed while awaiting trial through an alternative release system.
Judges can still deny pretrial release to individuals who pose a clear danger to the community, to repeat offenders and to those who are a probable flight risk.
A recent report from Luminosity and the Drug Policy Alliance found that almost 75 percent of the almost 15,000 individuals in New Jersey's jails are awaiting trial rather than serving out a sentence, and almost half of them remain incarcerated simply because they cannot afford bail. The Drug Policy Alliance backs Public Question No. 1.
-- Matt Ferner
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:15 AM ESTElection Results Leave Immigration Advocates Frustrated With Obama
HuffPost's Elise Foley reports:
As of next year, the Senate will be controlled by Republicans, as will the House. The fact that the Senate flipped to Republicans wasn't necessarily surprising to advocates, but it was a frustrating reminder of the president's decision to delay executive action on immigration. That move was meant to protect vulnerable red-state Democrats like Hagan, but most of them either lost anyway or are poised to lose.
In Colorado, executive action could have boosted enthusiasm from Latino voters to the benefit of Udall. Instead, he lost to Republican Cory Gardner, whose immigration stances are far more conservative. The only tangible effect of the delay may have been the deportation of thousands of people who could have been helped by executive action.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:15 AM ESTCould The Shellacking Have Been Avoided?
HuffPost's Sam Stein and Ryan Grim report:
Call it a thumping. Call it a shellacking. However you want to describe the 2014 midterm elections, the point remains the same. Democrats took it on the chin Tuesday night, losing the Senate, getting crushed in winnable governors' races, solidifying their minority status in the House for years to come, and stemming the party's ability to continue putting its stamp on the judiciary.
The question is whether it was all avoidable. Democratic strategists will say that the party was dealt a terrible hand, forced to defend too many vulnerable Democrats in red states against too much money. It was, to be sure, a lousy hand. But Democrats never tried to play it.
Candidates across the country shunned the president, with one famously refusing even to say whether she voted for him; they ran from the party's signature accomplishment, national health care reform; and they panicked when the White House considered doing broad-based immigration reform by executive action. Instead, a robust get out the vote operation was supposed to save the party, which rested its hopes in shifting demographic trends and fear of GOP extremists. But when you don't give your voters much to "get out" for, what's left?
"We gave Dems no reason to run," said an adviser to President Barack Obama. "We ran as Dems-lite."
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:13 AM ESTNew Mexico Voters Approve Ending Criminal Penalties For Marijuana Possession
Voters in New Mexico's Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties overwhelmingly approved the decriminalization of marijuana Tuesday. While they are nonbinding, the questions are aimed at gauging support for such a move.
The county questions com after the Santa Fe City Council's decision in August to decriminalize possession of marijuana and marijuana-related paraphernalia. The city's penalty was reduced to a $25 civil infraction.
-- Matt Ferner
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:11 AM ESTWinner: Karl Rove
After the 2012 elections didn't quite go the way the GOP wanted it, Republicans responded by impaneling a team of experts to divine what hard lessons needed to be learn, and come up with a long-term strategy to get back on the winning side. That effort yielded the 100-page "Growth And Opportunity Project" report (more colloquially known as the "RNC Autopsy"). Progress on this venture has been decidedly mixed, at best.
Elsewhere, however, key GOP figures were contemplating a short-term solution, focused on the 2014 midterms. Chief among them was former Bush adviser and Fox News contributor Karl Rove. His vision: the Conservative Victory Project. Its goal: No more Todd Akins! Rove attributed key GOP losses to the fact that too many undisciplined candidates were making it through party primaries and into general elections against Democratic candidates that more seasoned, established GOP candidates could beat.
In an interesting coincidence of timing, Rove's project launched around the same time that Iowa's Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, announced he would be retiring. Subsequently, one of the first people to end up in the crosshairs of Rove's new organization was U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa. As The New York Times reported at the time:
Representative Steve King, a six-term Iowa Republican, could be among the earliest targets of the Conservative Victory Project. He said he had not decided whether he would run for the Senate, but the leaders of the project in Washington are not waiting to try to steer him away from the race.
The group’s plans, which were outlined for the first time last week in an interview with [American Crossroads president Steven J.] Law, call for hard-edge campaign tactics, including television advertising, against candidates whom party leaders see as unelectable and a drag on the efforts to win the Senate. Mr. Law cited Iowa as an example and said Republicans could no longer be squeamish about intervening in primary fights.
“We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Mr. Law said. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”
Iowa ended up with Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst as their standardbearer in that Senate race, and while she's pushed the envelope in the wrong direction at times, she's more or less proved to be a manageable candidate. (Though it arguably helped Ernst that the media, by and large, chose to give her multiple passes.) Over in Colorado, Rove got the sort of candidate he prefers in U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner -- again, a manageable alternative to Ken Buck. Throughout the primary season, Republicans avoided elevating the types of candidates -- your Todd Akins, Sharron Angles, and Richard Mourdocks -- that had previously sunk ambitions.
Tuesday, in the critical Colorado and Iowa races, Gardner and Ernst both prevailed, beating established Democratic candidates thought to have superior ground operations. The GOP may still need to revisit that "RNC autopsy." But in the short term, what Karl Rove wanted to get, he got.
-- Jason Linkins
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:08 AM ESTOne Of The Nation's Most Unpopular Governors Wins Re-election
HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) won re-election on Tuesday, despite being one of the most unpopular governors in the country.
LePage won in part for the same reason he did in 2010: A crowded race split Democratic votes, paving the way for his victory.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:07 AM ESTMaine Voters: We Want To Bait Bears
For the second time in 10 years, a ban on bear baiting, trapping and hounding was defeated by Maine voters on Tuesday.
According to the Bangor Daily News, the majority of liberal voters (those residing in the more urban Portland area) were for the ban. The rest of the state? Not so much.
The pro-ban campaign was funded almost entirely by the Humane Society of the United States, which hoped to convince voters that hunting the state's black bears using bait, dogs and traps was cruel and unsporting. The opposition claimed these practices were necessary to control the state's population.
With 54 percent of precincts reporting, the no votes were leading, 53 percent to 47 percent.
Click here for more.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 1:03 AM ESTRepublican Projected To Win Re-Election In Maine
Maine Gov. Paul LePage wins re-election http://t.co/l7QJfMRt4n #Elections2014
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:58 AM ESTGOP Senators Begin Jockeying For Leadership Posts
confirmed: Thune will run for majr. conference chairman, per sources close to him. Expects McConnell and Cornyn to win top 2 posts.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:45 AM ESTBallot Measure To Drug-Test Doctors Fails In California
HuffPost's Lydia O'Connor reports:
Under Prop. 46, physicians could have been tested for drugs at random, within 24 hours of an adverse event suffered by a patient under their care, and when they were accused of possible substance abuse. Had it passed, California would have been the only state requiring random drug tests of doctors, the East Bay Express wrote.
Reform groups criticized that provision as ineffective in decreasing substance abuse, unfairly punitive of doctors and a step backward in ending the war on drugs. In a statement sent to The Huffington Post, the Drug Policy Alliance noted that random drug testing "cannot be used to determine the extent of drug misuse, impairment, frequency or amount of use." Moreover, it said, random drug-testing “often creates incentives to use riskier substances in counterproductive ways.”
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:41 AM ESTSenate Now Has Enough Votes To Pass Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Bill
HuffPost's Kate Sheppard reports:
The new Senate Republican majority creates an opportunity for likely Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to force a vote on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline he's been waiting years to hold.
By The Huffington Post's count, the new Senate will have at least 61 votes in favor of a measure forcing the pipeline's approval -- a filibuster-proof majority.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday in an appearance on MSNBC that passing a Keystone approval bill would be the second item on the Republican agenda, after a budget. "I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline because I think the pressure -- he’s going to be boxed in on that, and I think it's going to happen," Priebus said.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:28 AM ESTNobody Wants To Run Against Harry Reid For Minority Leader
Politico's Manu Raju reports:
Harry Reid will run for Senate minority leader, and it appears he will have no significant opposition.
Senior Senate Democratic aides said Tuesday night that Reid would have the full support of his entire leadership team, despite his party incurring huge losses on Election Night.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:22 AM ESTAmerica, Meet Your New Republican Bosses
HuffPost's Dana Liebelson reports:
Republican victories in Tuesday's Senate elections push out a Democratic old guard and usher in a new crop of hungry GOPers, some just getting their feet wet in politics.
Republicans won control of the Senate partly with the help of newcomers who ousted Democratic incumbents and whipped rivals for seats vacated by retiring liberal lions, whose political service spanned decades that included some of the biggest moments in modern U.S. political history. These departing senators have chaired powerful committees, authored landmark bills, exposed torture in Vietnam, debated CIA interrogation methods, and voted on the Iraq war.
Politically inexperienced Republicans fought to victory by linking Democratic opponents with President Barack Obama and by emphasizing business or military experience, rather than Washington savvy. A Republican outsider also snagged a seat held by a retiring Republican heavyweight: Businessman David Perdue, who will take the seat of departing Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:20 AM ESTPat Quinn Wants Every Vote Counted In Illinois Gubernatorial Race
Quinn says "They're entitled to make sure that the election authorities in every single county, counts the votes."
— natasha korecki (@natashakorecki) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:19 AM ESTCalifornia Votes To Imprison Fewer People
HuffPost's Matt Sledge reports:
California approved a major shift against mass incarceration on Tuesday in a vote that could lead to the release of thousands of state prisoners.
Nonviolent felonies like shoplifting and drug possession will be downgraded to misdemeanors under the ballot measure, Proposition 47. As many as 10,000 people could be eligible for early release from state prisons, and it's expected that courts will annually dispense around 40,000 fewer felony convictions.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:15 AM ESTSam Brownback Projected To Win Re-Election In Kansas Gubernatorial Election
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wins re-election, @AP projects http://t.co/ofVzXwtzru #Election2014
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:11 AM EST2016 Dem Contender Will Have To Explain Loss Of Historically Blue State
How does Martin O'Malley explain losing Maryland to the GOP on the 2016 trail?
— Scott Conroy (@RealClearScott) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:10 AM ESTMartha Coakley Loses Another Election In Massachusetts
Charlie Baker defeats Martha Coakley in Massachusetts governor's race, Fox and ABC project http://t.co/ofVzXwtzru #Election2014
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:08 AM ESTDavid Axelrod Says Returns Show A Wave Election
Said on @NBCNews earlier that this was not a wave. But the returns since then say otherwise.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:07 AM ESTRepublican Larry Hogan Projected To Win Maryland Gubernatorial Race
BREAKING: GOP Larry Hogan wins election as governor of Maryland. @AP race call at 12:05 a.m. EST. #Election2014 #APracecall
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/05/2014 12:04 AM ESTVermont Legislators Will Select Governor
BREAKING: Vermont legislature will pick governor after no candidate wins majority.
Tennessee voters on Tuesday approved a controversial ballot measure that ensures the state constitution does not protect a woman's right to abortion under any circumstances. Nearly 54 percent of voters approved the measure, with 46 percent opposed, according to Politico.
Amendment 1 overrides the Tennessee Supreme Court's 2000 decision to block a 36-hour mandatory waiting period before abortions. The court had ruled the state constitution protects women's right to privacy, which includes the right to have an abortion.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/04/2014 11:55 PM ESTMitch McConnell Claims To Admire Collegial Leaders, But Can He Be One?
HuffPost's Howard Fineman reports:
In his Capitol Hill office, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proudly displays an oil painting of his state’s most famous senator, Henry Clay, “The Great Pacificator” and unifying statesman of 19th century America. But as the 72-year-old McConnell prepares to take over as Senate majority leader, a job he’s spent decades plotting to win, it’s not clear whether he can be -- or wants to be -- another Clay.
McConnell has said recently that the past majority leaders he most admires are two Democrats -- Mike Mansfield of Montana, who moved most of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislation, and George Mitchell of Maine, who was noted for his diplomatic and collegial style.
On Election Day, McConnell staffers referred me to a speech their boss had made in which he vowed to run a more bipartisan and consultative Senate than now exists. He would be Clay, Mansfield and Mitchell all rolled into one.
Ted Kennedy Jr. has won his first political race and a seat in the Connecticut state Senate.
Kennedy is the 53-year-old son of the late U.S. senator and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He beat Republican Bruce Wilson Jr. on Tuesday for an open seat in a district along Connecticut's shoreline.
Kennedy had been mentioned in 2012 as a possible Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in his family's home state of Massachusetts. But he decided to seek office in Connecticut's 12th District, where he has lived for about 20 years.
Read more here.
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/04/2014 11:53 PM ESTMississippi Now Outlier On Political Progress For Women
Now there's only one state that's never elected a woman to federal office or the governorship: Mississippi. #2014
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/04/2014 11:48 PM ESTTed Cruz Won't Commit To Mitch McConnell As Majority Leader
Ted Cruz won’t say whether he’ll support McConnell as Majority Leader
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 5, 2014
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/04/2014 11:48 PM ESTOregon Becomes Third State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana
The reformation of marijuana laws across the nation took another step forward Tuesday when voters in Oregon approved a measure to legalize the drug for recreational use.
Voters passed Measure 91, which legalizes the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, according to The Oregonian, NORML and a Fox affiliate in the state. Oregon becomes the third state in the nation to end the prohibition on cannabis.
"People are no longer being fooled by the anti-marijuana propaganda that they’ve been hearing their entire lives," said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project.
“This is another example of voters standing up and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ Marijuana prohibition has been a massive failure and voters are ready to move on. This is a particularly impressive victory because voter turnout for midterm elections is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans all age groups and the ideological spectrum."
Read more here.
-- Matt Ferner
Share this:
Tweet
Share
tumblr
Share +
11/04/2014 11:46 PM ESTScott Brown Concedes In New Hampshire Senate Race
Scott Brown concedes http://t.co/p9A9YAaDcb #Election2014
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014
Target might have Alex, but the teen heartthrob isn't enough to save some of the company's stores from getting the ax.
The retail giant said Tuesday that it plans to shutter 11 underperforming stores by next February, about six months after it closed eight other locations. That brings the total number of closures to 19 this year -- as many locations as the company opened last year, according to its annual report.
“The decision to close a Target store is only made after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location,” the company said in a statement. “All eligible store team members are being offered the option to transfer to other Target stores.”
Employees who choose not to transfer will receive severance payments, the statement said. The stores, closing by Feb. 1, 2015, include locations scattered throughout the South and Midwest. Evan Lapiska, a Target spokesman, said each store currently employs roughly 100 workers.
Target has struggled over the past year in the wake of a massive breach of customer data, which cost its chief executive his job. The company is also facing trouble as big-box retailers lose ground with shoppers to smaller stores and e-commerce sites.
In response, Target began testing smaller, urban express stores and beefed up its digital team in July. In this case, the company appears to be trimming fat as part of its turnaround strategy.
Here’s a full list of stores closing:
Lithonia, Georgia
8109 Mall Parkway
Lithonia, Ga.
Castleton, Indiana
8448 Center Run Drive
Indianapolis, Ind.
Monroe, Michigan
2121 N. Monroe St.
Monroe, Mich.
Clinton, Iowa
2900 S. 25th St.
Clinton, Iowa
Wichita East, Kansas
301 S. Towne East Mall Drive
Wichita, Kan.
J.C. Penney announced on Wednesday that its Black Friday sales will begin at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, three hours earlier than last year.
The department store joins a number of other retailers kicking off their Black Friday sales earlier than ever this year in an effort to squeeze the most out of customers during the competitive holiday shopping season.
The Black Friday creep, also known as the "War on Thanksgiving," has been criticized by shoppers and workers alike for turning a day that's traditionally spent with family and friends into one focused on consumption.
So far this year, Kmart, Sears, Macy's and Walmart have said they'll open stores on Thanksgiving Day. Costco and Sam's Club are among the holdouts who refuse to open on the holiday.
Last year was the first year J.C. Penney opened on Thanksgiving, and Joey Thomas, a J.C. Penney spokesperson, said that the "response from customers was overwhelmingly positive."
"Local store leaders recognize the importance of work-life balance when staffing regular and seasonal associates, and give priority to those who volunteer for holiday shifts," Thomas wrote in an email. "Hourly associates will receive time and a half for hours worked on Thanksgiving Day."
J.C. Penney has struggled for years from weak sales, tumultuous leadership changes and a decaying brand. It's not clear whether steep holiday discounts will help the retailer.
Earlier this year, J.C. Penney was initially reluctant to release details about its 2013 holiday sales performance, which sent its stock tumbling. The store also announced it would be closing 33 stores and laying off thousands of workers.
Thirteen years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, One World Trade Center is officially open for business.
It took more than a decade to build One World Trade Center, but this GIF, tweeted by DailyMotion partnership manager Dan Milano last year, captures the construction of one of the tallest buildings in New York City in just 24 seconds.
Although thousands of workers will eventually occupy what was formerly known as the Freedom Tower, 175 Conde Nast employees moved into the building Monday.
For most teenage stars, the rise to fame comes from combination of stage parenting and a talent for singing, acting or just looking cute.
But thanks to the Internet, one teenager just became famous for bagging groceries.
Meet “Alex from Target.” Those three words encompass basically all we know about him: His name is Alex (at least according to his Target name tag), he works at Target, and he has the boyish good looks of a young Nick Carter, Justin Bieber or any other teenage heartthrob with wispy blonde hair.
YOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/eknsxBlx38
— rims (@auscalum) November 2, 2014
Twitter user @auscalum posted a picture of him yesterday afternoon, and the Internet took notice. A Twitter account with the bio “Official Alex from Target” now has 346,000 followers and counting. Another Twitter account, which tweeted for the first time 15 hours ago and also claims to be affiliated with Alex, has 24,000 followers.
You can also find Alex from Target on Tumblr, Facebook and as a title character in a teenage romance-style fan-fiction.
Target is embracing the teen’s newfound fame, and presumably some extra attention from the youngs can only be a good thing for a brand that’s working to win back its mojo. Long adored by middle-class shoppers looking for chic clothes on the cheap, Target has suffered in recent years thanks to a declining interest in big box stores and a massive credit card hack last year.
The chain is looking to win customers back by highlighting designer collaborations and exclusive toy lines this holiday season, Fortune reported last month. Like Walmart, Target is also expanding its line of smaller format stores to lure urban customers.
But maybe all it takes is a cute teen employee?
“Imagine our surprise yesterday when one of our Target team members managed to flood the Internet with images of red and khaki without even trying,” Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for Target, wrote in an email. “We are proud to have a great team, including #AlexFromTarget.”
She added that out of respect for his privacy, the company isn’t revealing the location of Alex's store or making him available for interviews right now.
Like hundreds -- if not thousands -- of teenage girls, HuffPost is still waiting for Alex to respond to messages sent to his Twitter and Facebook accounts. Here are a few tweets from the account that claims to be the "Official Alex":
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson on Saturday cast doubt on the future of his commercial space tourism company.
A day after the pilot of a Virgin Galactic rocket plane died in a crash and another was injured during a test flight, the billionaire vowed to investigate the accident and said he "would like to see the dream living on."
"We would love to finish what we started some years ago," Branson said at a press conference in California. "I think pretty well all our astronauts would love to finish it, and would love to go to space."
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation on Saturday into what caused the SpaceShipTwo shuttle to crash, seriously injuring one pilot and killing 39-year-old Michael Alsbury. Founded in 2004, Virgin Galactic is working to provide suborbital spaceflight to tourists and scientists.
The accident on Friday underscores the dangers facing the nascent space travel industry, led in recent years by Branson and billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, an unmanned Antares rocket exploded six seconds after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Island launch pad in Virginia. The rocket was ferrying supplies to the International Space Station.
A GIF of the Antares rocket exploding after takeoff.
No one was hurt in Tuesday's explosion, but shares in the company that developed the rocket, Orbital Sciences Corporation, plummeted afterward. The company said it would investigate what went wrong.
"It's a real setback to the idea that lots of people are going to be taking joyrides into the fringes of outer space any time soon," John Logsdon, a retired space policy director at George Washington University, told the Associated Press. "There were a lot of people who believed that the technology to carry people is safely at hand."
On Saturday, Branson appeared somber as he told reporters Virgin Galactic, the space-travel arm of his business empire, would "not push on blindly."
"We owe it to our test pilots to figure out what went wrong," the British mogul said. "If we can overcome it, we'll make absolutely certain that the dream lives on."
WASHINGTON -- Republicans in Congress may be in no mood to hike the minimum wage, but four conservative-leaning states are poised to do it on their own next week.
Initiatives to raise the minimum wage appear on the ballot in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota on Tuesday. Alaska, Arkansas and South Dakota all have Republican-controlled legislatures, and Nebraska is solidly red despite the official lack of party affiliation in its statehouse.
Recent polls have shown strong support for each of these ballot initiatives. That should come as no surprise. The idea of hiking the wage floor tends to receive bipartisan backing among Americans, with around two-thirds of voters saying they favor such proposals in most surveys.
"We're expecting them all to go through," said Tsedeye Gebreselassie, an attorney with the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, which advocates for a higher minimum wage. "I would be shocked if it didn't go through in any of the states."
If the ballot measures pass, they will mark a milestone of sorts for the minimum wage.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia currently have their own minimum wage set higher than the federal level of $7.25 per hour, and Maryland and Hawaii will soon join them thanks to laws passed earlier this year. Of the four states weighing proposals next week, three of them -- Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota -- have their wage floors set at just $7.25.
If all four ballot measures make it through, a majority of states will have effectively determined that the federal minimum wage set by Congress is too low. They would include large swaths of the U.S. where the cost of living is generally lower than average -- a common argument among conservatives against raising the federal wage floor.
Alaska's measure would hike the state's minimum wage from $7.75 to $9.75 by 2016. Arkansas' minimum wage would go to $8.50 by 2017, Nebraska's to $9 by 2016, and South Dakota's to $8.50 by next year. The measures in Alaska and South Dakota would also tie the minimum wage to an inflation index, so that the wage floor would rise with the cost of living. Ten states have already indexed their minimum wages.
Illinois also has a minimum wage measure on the ballot Tuesday, though it's nonbinding and merely allows voters to send a message to state lawmakers.
The last time the country saw so many minimum-wage ballot initiatives in a midterm election was 2006, when there were six -- in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio. The fate of those measures bodes well for the backers of this year's initiatives: Every one of them passed.
Democrats in Congress have proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and tying it to inflation, a measure backed by President Barack Obama. House Republicans have so far refused to give the bill a vote, however, and Senate Democrats haven't managed to round up enough votes to overcome a GOP filibuster. If Republicans win control of the Senate next week, the prospects of a federal minimum wage hike anytime soon will become even dimmer.
Given the gridlock in Washington, the president has urged cities and states to bypass Congress and raise their own minimum wages.
"To every mayor, governor and state legislator in America, I say, 'You don't have to wait for Congress to act,'" Obama said in his State of the Union speech in January. "Americans will support you if you take this on."
